Elections and Making Money

The first time that I ran for office, I was amazed at the sheer quantity– if not the quality– of mail that I received from all sorts of vendors who offered everything from campaign consulting  to campaign buttons and yard signs. Of course, the news media love political campaigns because it gives them fresh grist for their mills. This opened my eyes to the large number of Americans who stand to make money off elections–no matter who wins or loses.

Over the last week, I have discovered a new industry that lives for elections, the t-shirt industry. If you doubt what I am saying, go to Amazon.com and check out the campaign t-shirts. But, if you really want to be overwhelmed with campaign attire, go to cafepress.com.  http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/election_republican_mens-clothing?topic=348

As of this moment, under the categories of “elections,” “men’s t-shirts” and “Republicans” they are offering 27,800 designs. That is an awful lot of t-shirts. At the moment, t-shirts with the word Palin in them appear to be very hot, based upon their rankings.

No one should be surprised by that, since Gov. McCain’s campaign played the news media and the left wing blogs like a concert violinist plays his instrument. McCain managed to get tons and tons of free publicity. The popularity of Palin t-shirts is a reflection of that.